December 2018
Insurance losses by state are adding up and there is a strong reason to believe rates in almost every category will be going up. As natural disasters mount from wildfires in California to hurricanes and flooding in Texas, Florida and the East coast, insurance claims are in the billions of dollars and growing.
Most major insurance companies offer and issue various types of insurance, including liability, fire, flood, earthquake and homeowners. As claims increase with one or two of the coverage segments, coverage costs may increase with others as well.
Insurance companies are intertwined and coverage costs are related. Some insurance companies spread their costs across all policyholders nationwide as opposed to centralizing higher premiums to one geographic region.
Homeowners in coastal states from Texas and Florida to North Carolina are seeing rates rise faster than in other parts of the country, as the threat of future storms and flooding remains relatively high. In California, some insurance companies have designated several additional regions as high-risk areas to insure.
Kent G. Forsey, CFP®
President
Sources: NAIC, Insurance Information Institute, OneBlueWindow, LLC©